I am posting this as I get a lot of emails asking my advice on the subject and for those of you who don't know I am whats know as a realtor or real estate agent in Ontario. (Similar to an estate agent).

Ok so you've landed and haven't got a job, hopefully you'll have sorted hotel accommodation for the first few nights or be staying at friends or relatives. Your next step is to find rental accommodation, for a short period. Anything less then a year and less then $1400-$1500 a month you'll find thru newspaper ads. If you want to go thru a realtor you'll likely have to "volunteer" to pay up to 5 months rent in advance if you don't have a job or references. Ontario law states that a landlord can only legally ask for 1st and last months rent - however remember he/she is in the driving seat - what incentive is there to rent to a person with possibly no job or references when he can rent to an "established" person.

Realtors get paid by the landlord in this case and usual commission is half a months rent.

note Realtors are almost all paid on commission basis, they work for brokers who collect the commission fee's and then split the money according to whatever commission split they have with their agent

Ok then you want to start looking for a house, you will need a realtor for this and again they are paid commission by the seller (usually 2.5% of the sale price).

(Make sure you have a mortgage pre approval in place so you know exactly what you can afford. (Your agent can help with this).

You can call the listing agent (that’s the agent who has the for sale sign in front of the house) ..But remember he is working for the best interests of the seller. If he asks you to be his client, his loyalty is split and he acts as an impartial individual. I would not recommend using the listing agent to buy the house since he will not be working in YOUR best interests.

Your agent should provide you with listing based on where you want to live, money you want to spend and type of home you want. He will arrange appointments for you. Its my experience that within seeing your first 10-15 homes you should be interested in making an offer on one of them , if not, then your agent and you need to revise your search or change your expectations.

I have had clients who have seen many homes and cannot find one that they like. In which case I have parted company since to me the home the individual wants is not out there and also that individual is not willing to be flexible in their search.

If you see a home you like, ask your agent to make an offer ASAP. The market is hot right now; good homes will sell VERY fast. Get an offer in early and you have an advantage.

Your agent will ask for details on your offer and prepare an offer to present to the sellers and their agents. It’s likely the offer will go to and from you and the sellers till you reach a price and conditions you all are happy with. (Anyone backing out of a FIRM contract is likely to either lose their deposit and /or get sued.)

After which you pass the details to your lawyer and you should have the keys to your house on your agreed upon closing date.


Best of luck
Ray

Thank you Ray. I appreciated those comments and it has just occurred to me to ask a few other questions on this subject. At the moment I'm intending to return to Canada (after a 24 year absence) in mid-July. I will have to find temporary accommodation (and your advice is spot on to what I expected) until I find the right house for me (none of my remaining family can give me more than a couch in the short term). Should I be speaking to realtors now or just wait until I get out there?

Secondly, when I do buy a house I will be a cash buyer. A lot of listings on the mls that I look at say 'buyer to take over existing mortgage' and other similar types of things. Does this mean I wouldn't be able to make an offer on that house?

CDN returner - you're probably best to speak to realtors a couple of weeks before you come out...BUT they won't be able to help you unless you are looking to rent for at least a year. If you are renting less then a year then I would advise you come out here, stay at hotels/relatives and then start looking in the classified section of the Toronto Star or Sun.

As for your second question - I believe they give the option of buyer taking over the mortgage (subject to approval from the bank) ...as a cash buyer you should be able to simply buy outright. If they say you MUST take over a mortgage you can still refuse too , the owner will probably then have to pay a penalty for breaking the mortgage which undoubtadly will reflect in the purchase price.

Hope that helps

Welcome back to Canada

Ray